It felt like a long time since Tantei Opera Milky Holmes ended back in December of last year. This show was particularly fun not because the girls were adorable, but for the outright hilarious comedy that didn’t involve the overused tsundere archetypes. With a second season coming next winter, I can only wonder about the shenanigans Milky Holmes and the Genius 4 will be up to.

For now, we have the summer special 1, which centers on Kokoro’s journey of becoming an idol shortly after the G4’s demotion for failing to capture Aresenè among other things.
When Kokoro got kidnapped in episode 4, I always wondered about Irene’s intentions with her. Through this flashback with the G4 infiltrating the mansion along with Milky Holmes to save Kokoro has revealed something. Irene was attempting to make her into an idol. Considering that the idol business is very lucrative, it’s not surprising to see Irene tap into this hidden potential. Unfortunately, Kokoro is totally against the idea until something unfortunate changes her mind.

We get it! Kokoro has a 12,000,000,000,000,000 IQ that she sweeps any student and professor at Harvard...

Ironically, she reconsiders it when she returned to the headquarters. Even though she is a genius and earned a degree at Harvard at three years old, she would still make a good idol for one reason alone. She has a very cute appearance with a personality of a spoiled child. Also, she is the very reason the G4 relocated to a crummy and small room. Perhaps the other girls feel that they are better off without her around. On the other hand, Milky Holmes fully supports her dream of becoming an idol, especially Sheryl without knowing the consequences.

Undeniably, she is really pretty as an idol...

As shown in The iDOLM@STER, being an idol is no walk in the park. Even though we don’t see Kokoro’s training sessions for her singing and dancing, the idea of her having to appear at many interviews, photo shots and television spots is very tiresome. Astonishingly, she generated so much revenue at a short period of time, which is unrealistic because newly established idols get only a small chunk. Despite this, Kokoro’s singing sounded decent at best.

Sadly, Sheryl can't stand the burden of not being able to call Kokoro-chan.

The rest of the episode was very predictable since Sheryl couldn’t accept being forever alone. She enjoyed the company of Kokoro despite being bratty and can’t help seeing her isolated from most of society. Surprisingly, It only took a glimpse of the fight with the Gentleman Thieves to change her mind and return to the G4. Well played, Henriette!

And just like that, Kokoro makes a triumphant return!

Although this special isn’t as absurd compared to the other episodes, it was definitely a treat to see Kokoro get a glimpse of idol life. It’s funny how she survived with the mostly obsessive fan base since it looked rough. Either way, it was an enjoyable ride and the cameo of Mori Arty was cute as always.

The animation was okay, but providing that JC Staff has shown some short comings with animation in the past, maybe they will add some more money in the animation budget this time around providing that it’s fairly popular.

On a lighter note, Sheryl with her hair down now looks pretty similar to Princess Millhiore from Dog Days…

Speaking about the show in general, how is it overall? I am interested in checking it out, but then again, I hate to add something or waste time with it when their is so much backlog to clear. I like hear from people.

Probably check out my review of the series. There are otherreviews you should check out, but it’s definitely one of those shows that JC Staff surprisingly did well besides Zakuro, mostly because of the character driven comedy and the crazy premises. The animation could have been better though, but it was good.

Hmm, I will check it out then when time permits. J.C Staff and their directorial/animation skills are waning on me, but my girlfriend told me they did do Zakuro well, so I might reconsider after reading a bit and checking out an epsiode or two. Well, at least I hope Shana III will be fine.

Yes, JC Staff is becoming more a hit and miss studio and their direction could use some work. I kind of wish they focus a bit more on quality, in such what PA Works, Shaft and Production IG is doing… There is one good thing though, at least they can’t be worse than Studio Deen.